Cream Puffs

Ok, did you know that Cream Puffs are EXTREMELY easy to make? My friend the other day told me that my opinion about recipes is getting somewhat biased because I am getting somewhat flawless, but I beg, no SCREAM to differ, because I just find easy recipes, and I promise, you follow the steps, use whatever cooking sense you have to make minor changes you think would be better, and Voila! You, too, can be a great cook.

Anyway, this is out of the classic Better Homes and Garden cookbook. I tried them tonight because I'm having a little party Thursday and was planning on making mini Lava Cakes and Cream Puffs for dessert and I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to screw them up. TA DA! These are super easy and so fun.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

4 eggs

3 cups whipping cream, pudding or ice cream

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, and salt. Bring to boiling, add flour all at one, stirring "vigorously" (that's what the book says!) Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball (I would say a ball-like structure)

2. Remove from hear. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon aftger each addition (make sure it's not slimey before you add the next egg!)

3. Drop 12 (I only got 10) heaping tablespoons of dough onto greased baking sheet. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown, firm and dry. (Mine took exactly 30 minutes in my gas oven.) Move to a wire rack and cool until they are cool enough to handle.

4. OK, now you decide...the recipe says to cut the tops off, remove the soft dough, and fill with your choice of filling, then put the top back on. The first one I did this too was fairly hollow anyway, so I just used my pastry bag with the long skinny attachment (I think it's made for things like this...) and stuck it in the side and filled them up with Cool Whip. Now, Cool Whip is pretty white trash, but it does taste ok. For the party, I'm probably going to use more of a creamy custard or something like that.

5. TA DA! Cream puffs...yummy, yummy!

P.S. The recipe says not to fill them more than 2 hours before they are served because they get soggy. I say that's probably good advice, but if you were to use ice cream, or Cool Whip, you could make them ahead of time and freeze them! I don't know about the pudding or custard, so if you do know, leave a comment and let us know!

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